Ad description
A website for bag company Moncrief, www.moncrief.co.uk, seen in May 2024. The page titled “heritage” featured the text “Every Moncrief product is imbued with the passion of the extraordinary artisans whose skilled hand’s [sic] brings the designs to life … Each skin is carefully inspected and then cut by hand, ensuring only the best pieces are used and up to four skins are required for a large bag which takes several days to hand craft”. The page titled “DISPATCH AND DELIVERY” featured the text “Each item is handmade in Italy with the finest components from all over the world”. The page titled “PRESS AND PUBLICATION” contained the text “Moncrief products have continually featured in the top international fashion magazines". The claim appeared alongside various images of publications.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the following claims were misleading and could be substantiated:
1. “Each item is handmade in Italy”; and
2. "Moncrief products have continually featured in the top international fashion magazines".
Response
1. Sterling Wholesale Ltd t/a Moncrief explained that they sold products under both the Moncrief and Moncrief London lines. They confirmed that the bespoke leather products under the Moncrief main line were made in Italy but not the items under the Moncrief London line. They said confusion may have arisen by offering both brands on the same website, but in future they would ensure the “Dispatch and Delivery” section clarified the origin of each brand. They further explained that the Moncrief London leather bags were hand finished and therefore not mass produced.
2. They said that Moncrief products had previously featured in top magazines as they showed on their website.
Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA acknowledged Moncrief’s statement that the bespoke leather products under the Moncrief main line were made in Italy, and the Moncrief London leather bags were hand finished. However, the ASA considered consumers would understand the text “Each item is handmade in Italy”, and the descriptions of the production process on the “heritage” webpage, to mean that all the Moncrief products on the website were handmade in Italy, regardless of the line they were from. In the absence of relevant documentary evidence to substantiate the claim that each item in both the Moncrief main line and the Moncrief London line was handmade in Italy, we concluded that the claim “Each item is handmade in Italy” was misleading and had not been substantiated.
On this issue, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
2. Upheld
We considered consumers would understand from the text "Moncrief products have continually featured in the top international fashion magazines", alongside images of magazines including Vogue Business, Vanity Fair, Pomp, and Financial Times Travel Unravelled, that Moncrief products had frequently been included in prominent global fashion magazines, including the ones featured in the graphic. We acknowledged Moncrief’s comment that their products had previously featured in top magazines, but had not received evidence to substantiate that their products had frequently appeared in such publications, as claimed. We therefore concluded that the claim "Moncrief products have continually featured in the top international fashion magazines" was misleading and had not been substantiated.
On this issue, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Sterling Wholesale Ltd t/a Moncrief not to claim that each item was handmade in Italy, or to claim that their products had frequently featured in the top international fashion magazines, unless they held adequate substantiation for the claims.
